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MTB News & racing round-up for November 10, 2005

Edited by Steve Medcroft

Welcome to our regular round-up of what's happening in the dirt. Feel free to send feedback, news and gossip to mtb@cyclingnews.com

America's longest MTB route

Yet another climb completed Photo ©: Erik Schlimmer

Your typical border fare Photo ©: Erik Schlimmer

Another good day Photo ©: Erik Schlimmer

Across the forests of Montana, mountains of Idaho, rangelands of Wyoming, plateaus of Utah and deserts of Arizona, adventurer Erik Schlimmer became the first to ride the "new, longest, most grueling mountain bike route in the United States," a pathway dubbed the Western States Mountain Bike Route. Traveling from August 15th to October 5th of this year, it was a trip of extremes with temperatures ranging from 26 to 101 degrees in terrain varying between 11,000-foot-high snowfields and broiling Borderland deserts. Self-supported and camping out each night, Schlimmer traveled 2,720 miles across the most striking landscapes of North America.

A professional adventurer, motivational speaker and author of McGraw Hill's "Thru Hiker's Guide to America," Schlimmer possesses a healthy list of long-distance and mountaineering accomplishments, particularly in the Northeast. But he states this ride was "absolutely the hardest thing" he has ever done, exceeding his past adventures, which include a 2,250-mile ride across the perilous U.S.-Mexico border and a stint in the military as an U.S. Army paratrooper, among other challenges.

Chris Leibman, sponsorship manager for Jamis Bicycles, one of Schlimmer's primary sponsors, feels this accomplishment is an extreme, even for the progressive culture of mountain biking. "It's very impressive to see someone push himself to the edge, look over the side and come back in one piece to tell the tale- and to do it all not because he had to, but because he wanted to," said Leibman. More edgy moments during the expedition included outrunning and hiding from a barrage of lightening storms, camping alone through 1,000 miles of grizzly bear country, crossing the waterless Sonoran Desert in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees and ascending approximately 170,000 vertical feet end-to-end (the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest from sea level six times).

After finally peeling himself off his well-worn bike, Schlimmer's work was not yet done. Using his degrees in both leadership and speech communication, the author is now peddling a motivational film-and-slide presentation from venue-to-venue. This thrilling account- featured on Thruhikersguide.com- is designed to promote people to discover the vast potential each of us possess.

For more information or to book Schlimmer to a speaking engagement, visit www.thruhikersguide.com

Kobin going for third Ruta win

On Friday, November 11, Louise "Swedish Express" Kobin (X-Fusion Shox) will begin her quest to win La Ruta de los Conquistadores for the third year in a row. While La Ruta has been dominated on the men's side by Costa Ricans, the Swedish-American Kobin has won the women's race two years running and is poised to do it again.

La Ruta covers 199 miles (320km), climbs over 29,530 feet (9,000m), and achieves a maximum elevation of over 10,000 feet (3,100m) in just three days. On top of all of this, the weather will certainly be a major factor this year. A prolonged wet season due to hurricanes has soaked the area and rain continues to fall. It is likely this will be the most difficult La Ruta to date.

Kobin takes it all in her stride though. "The rain is something everyone has to deal with so I will just focus on my race," she said on Tuesday evening while packing her bike. "I have been training since 24 Hour Worlds for La Ruta and I feel good. Now it's time to race."

Freerider Zink moves to Haro

Haro Bicycles officially announced today that they have signed freeride phenom Cameron Zink to ride Haro frames for the upcoming 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Zink, who is considered by many to be one of the gravity scene's most talented and versatile riders, will participate in a full schedule of freeride events, select World Cup and NORBA downhill and mountain cross races as well as video projects. His first race event aboard a Haro frame will be the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA April 6-9, 2006. 

“Haro has always been at the pinnacle of cycling, and I feel we have met at a perfect point in my riding career where we can benefit a lot from each other,” said Zink. “I am ecstatic about this new relationship and the direction the company is going."

"With freeride getting a tremendous amount of exposure and mountain bike racing being a big part of our marketing program, we couldn't be happier to have partnered up with such a talented rider who has the skills to pull “double duty” for Haro," said Jill Hamilton, Haro's Mountain Bike Brand Manager. “From an R & D standpoint, the feedback we'll get from Cameron will do wonders to help shape and improve our current product offering”.

The 19-year-old Nevada resident's career highlights include numerous podium appearances in both freeride/slopestyle and downhill race events since turning pro in 2003.  Zink has also appeared in videos such as Highways, New World Disorder 5, and Disorder 6: Unchained.

MTB club runs social ride on Commonwealth Games course

Australian Elite U23 Rider James Maebus in conjunction with Fat Tyre Flyers has organised an event to celebrate the use of the 2006 Commonwealth Games Course in Lysterfield, Melbourne.

The idea for a social ride on the site of the March, 2006 Commonwealth Games began when the free tickets issued to spectators wanting to view the MTB events up close sold out. That's right; there was a substantial number of tickets up for grabs but, I guess you could say every man and his dog got onto the bandwagon for Commonwealth Games events. This said a substantial amount of the MTB community were set to miss out on the chance to seeing the beloved events. So Maebus, along with FTF and Parks Victoria will be running a Social Event. Not a race; a Social MTB ride from Belgrave to Lysterfield.

Maebus spent much of 2005 organising this event from scratch and is set to introduce a new element to the ever-evolving form of MTB riding. The ride will incorporate a 2.5hr led MTB ride in small groups, all the elements of a race atmosphere, Sponsors, Prizes, Show bags, BBQ / Drinks and a whole lot of fun on December 17th.

For More information and to enter - please go to the event's website www.dayofsingletrackin.com.

Australian National MTB series #1

Last week, we posted results from the first race in the Australian National Mountain Bike series. Since then, an additional set of pictures have come into the Cyclingnews mtb news room:

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Tony Ross/www.tonyjross.com

• Chris Jongewaard does it tough on his way to second in the XC race
• Sid Taberlay has a chat to reporters after the XC race
• That's one muddy bike! Sid Taberlay's Specialized needs a good wash after the XC race
• Sid Taberlay leans hard during the XC race
• Carmen DeRooze took the win in the women's XC race
• Emma Colson after a tough women's XC race

IMBA News

2005 Take a Kid Mountain Biking day winners - Congratulations to all the clubs who organized events for Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day! Nationwide, over 70 clubs organized events for thousands of young riders. Look for a special photo gallery to appear in the next issue of IMBA Trail News. Three of the events earn special prizes:

California's Redding Mountain Biking Club will receive three junior-sized mountain bikes from Schwinn. The Redding event drew 62 kids and 55 adults for a 5-mile ride on the Sacramento Trail. Local bike shops donated prizes and the club handed out temporary tattoos with RMBC logo. Trips for Kids Detroit organized a fun ride for kids at the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependency's IMPACT Center. They will receive a $100 certificate for the IMBA online store. The event organized by Mexico's Xinte Mountain Bike Club also earns a $100 certificate. The Xinte ride was featured in Reforma, one of the nation's leading newspapers.

Trail Solution crew heads to Australia - Neither turkey comas nor winter weather will slow the remarkable progress that IMBA's fee-based Trail Solutions program is enjoying this fall. Construction on a mountain bike-specific trail system in NorCal's King Range is in full swing. Other projects this season include work in the Sumter National Forest in South Carolina, at Wakefield County Park and Rosaryville State Park in Washington, DC Metro area, and an upcoming IMBA-built freeride park in Florida.

Trail Solutions' Joey Klein has clicked his red boots and returned to Australia (for the third time) to help Mountain Bike Australia, Tony Scott and the lads push for more and better riding in Oz. The Klein Down Under Tour will be a seven-week, six-state affair:

October 21 - 23, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, NSW October 25 - 30, Perth, WA November 1 - 6, Adelaide, South Australia November 8 - 13, Melbourne and Beechworth, Victoria November 15 - 20, Launceston and Hobart, Tasmania November 22 - 27, Thredbo, NSW November 29 - December 4, Brisbane, Queensland

States leaders needed to harvest RTP dollars - In case you missed the big news, the 109th U.S. Congress dedicated $370 million to the Recreational Trails Program (RTP). The RTP legislation mandates that each state "shall establish a state recreational trail advisory committee that represents both motorized and non-motorized recreational trail users, which shall meet not less often than once per fiscal year." Find out if you live in one of the 29 states that need an RTP leader at www.imba.com.

Bike patrol conference a hit - National Mountain Bike Patrollers from across the southeast gathered for the NMBP Regional Instructor Training Conference on Oct. 8-9 at Gainesville College, in Georgia. SORBA (Southern Off-Road Bicycling Association) hosted the event, which brought patrol leaders together for a weekend of seminars, speakers, networking and riding. Twenty people were certified as National Mountain Bike Patrol Instructors and Daniel Elzey of SORBA was appointed as the Southeast Regional NMBP Representative.

San Diego regains lost trail - San Diego has regained Kelly's Ditch Trail, a connector between William Heise County Park (near the community of Julian) and Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. For bikes, the alternative has been a long and dangerous ride on a shoulder-less two-lane road. "Letters from trail users, combined with a receptive park staff, helped resolve the issue," says Daniel Greenstadt, IMBA's southern California rep.

Seattle's new skills park opens in 2006 - Colonnade Bike Park, located under the deck of Interstate 5 in Seattle, will open for riding early in 2006, thanks to the Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club. The park will include two acres of trails ladden with technical features such as switchbacks, log rides, rock gardens, skinnies, wall-rides and small jumps.

I-5 Colonnade is a 7.5 acre facility, located under the deck of the I-5 freeway, which will include open space, a mountain bike skills park, an off-leash dog area, public art, and an ADA accessible walkway that reconnects the Capitol Hill and Eastlake neighborhoods. Construction of the non-mountain bike portions of the park concludes in 2005. Construction of the mountain bike skills area began in October and will be complete by October 2006.

Mountain bikers, led by BBTC, are designing, funding, constructing and maintaining the mountain bike skills park. All aspects of this project rely heavily on volunteers and donations. To date, $115,000 has been raised from sources including private donors, Vulcan, REI, King County Youth Sports Facilities Grant, City of Seattle Neighborhood Matching Fund, Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Pro Parks Levy, and Bikes Belong. The I-5 Colonnade mountain bike park will be the first of its kind in the country and the only mountain bike park in the City of Seattle. For information about how to donate to the project or how to become a volunteer, visit www.bbtc.org

2005 Cycling BC Mountain Bike Race Organizers' Conference

Canadian mountain bike race organizers will be getting together at the Coast Abbotsford Hotel & Suites in Abbotsford, BC on Sunday, November 20, 2005 to review the success of the 2005 BC mountain-bike season, talk about the scheduling of 2006 event and plans for the future of the series.

All the organizers of BC Cup races will be in attendance. interested parties are urged to RCVP through Cycling BC's MTB Manager Kevin MacCuish through the organization's Web site at www.cycling.bc.ca.

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